Shanahan also defended the Redskins' decision to trade three first-round draft picks to the St. Louis Rams to acquire the No. 2 selection in the 2012 NFL Draft. The Redskins will have the opportunity to draft either Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck or Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III, and Shanahan said acquiring a franchise signal-caller is a necessary step to making the team competitive.

"The Super Bowls that I've been involved with, with Steve Young, with John Elway, both were franchise quarterbacks," Shanahan said, according to ESPN.com. "They can make plays when everything breaks down. And if somebody can do that, then you've got an opportunity, once you get to the playoffs, to do something special.

"Now, can you still win without one? Sure you can. But you'd better be pretty special."

"That's a decision, when you get to the second pick, you've got to feel great about both guys," Shanahan said. "There can't be any, 'Oh, I hope I get this guy, I hope I get that guy,' because you don't know what's going to happen. You know what's reported, but you just don't know, especially with this process. But when we did move up to that position, we had to feel great about both of them before we gave up what we gave up."